New | Chinese President Xi Jinping's former aide on the way up promotion ladder
The president is surrounding himself with trusted advisers and others he knows well, ahead of next leadership restructuring in two years' time
Guizhou governor Chen Miner, once Xi's propaganda chief in eastern Zhejiang province, has been promoted to become the provincial party chief of the southwestern province, Xinhua reported.
His predecessor, Zhao Kezhi , was appointed party chief of Hebei province, filling the vacancy left by Zhou Benshun, who was last week announced to be under investigation for "serious violation of party discipline and law" - a euphemism for corruption.
At age 54, Chen is one of three provincial party bosses in the current administration who were born in the 1960s, putting him ahead of most of his peers in their race for higher office. Beijing-based political analyst Zhang Lifan said younger officials had more potential to be trained in the leadership succession.
[Chen Miner] only turns 55 this year, so ... he has a higher value to be trained and deployed
"He only turns 55 this year, so he can stay in office for two to three more terms. Therefore he has a higher value to be trained and deployed," Zhang said.
It is an unwritten rule in Chinese officialdom that provincial or ministerial heads aged 68 or above will not be promoted to the state leadership in reshuffles at party congresses, which are held every five years. With the next party congress and semi-leadership transition due in two years, some officials who once worked under Xi during his tenure as Zhejiang party chief from 2002 to 2007 have been promoted to important provincial and ministerial jobs.